amyvt98

Hi there - I am also married with children, and enrolling in a PhD program has been a career change for me. I briefly considered applying to a few CHYMPS schools that would require me to live away from home during the week. Eventually, I decided that the combination of the expense of maintaining two residences plus five years away from the family made that option impractical for me. I wound up at my first choice (ranked in the 20-40 range), which is about an hour commute from where I live. As you know, getting hired out of school is iffy at best, but in the end, I decided to go the route that would provide minimal disruption for the family. So far, I don't regret it. Logistically, things aren't that different from commuting for any other job. I spend less time on campus compared to others in my cohort so that I can maximize time at home (usually that means sitting on the sofa reading for a class while my son sits next to me and watches Survivor). It really is just like another job - my coworkers are just a lot younger than I am I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any specific questions - I'm happy to try and answer.

Yes, totally unfair. I hope there are better solutions out there, especially now that #metoo has started to change things. I just wanted to provide my experience so that you'll know that your'e not alone. I hope it all settles down for you!

I have some experience with this, albeit with a caveat. I'm an older student (I entered my program in my mid-40s after a career change) so I don't have the problem of getting hit on anymore. However, earlier in my career before I entered academia, I had this problem a lot. It sucked, and it did prevent me from forming close relationships with some people, especially men. I can't speak to how these types of things are handled in academia, but I can tell you what I did to cope since in my old profession, there weren't a lot of resources for this type of situation. First, I would limit my social time to a drink or two at happy hour before heading home. I found that the later things got, the more inappropriately people would act. Second, I would wait to get to know people pretty well in a workplace setting before letting my guard down and hanging out socially. I occasionally did become friends with some men at work, but only after getting to know them and their motivations. This didn't work 100% of the time - occasionally I would deem someone harmless and I'd be wrong. But it did work most of the time. If your experience is anything like mine, the longer you spend in the department, the more people will forget about surface appearance and start to see the person you are inside. Until then, I coped by watching a lot of Legally Blonde

I live in the DC area, too, and have a somewhat nontraditional background (I'm an older student switching careers). There are quite a few programs in our area that might find your military background interesting. Several of the schools I considered have students who come from the military, and it's my perception that they had positive experiences with these students. The first poster is correct that your undergrad GPA is not going to help you, but there are some good schools in the DC area that fall outside of the top 30-50 that are worth considering.

Check out political predictions markets, too. https://www.predictit.org/

I wanted to provide another perspective re: relocating. I went through the application process this past cycle and had similar geographic constraints. I'm in the DC area and only applied to schools that would allow me to commute from where I live. While not ideal, it's totally doable. You're lucky to live in a place that has several good options, so that's good news. The good thing about having geographic constraints is that you can get to know the area schools really well so that you can get a feel for whether doing a PhD locally is realistic. So if you're serious about applying to local schools, take the opportunity now to meet local professors who do research in your area of interest, learn each school's strengths and weaknesses, visit the campus, talk to other grad students, etc. You might also consider stretching your geographic area to consider schools outside of Manhattan (for example, does is Rutgers a fit?). That might give you more options when it comes down to applying and acceptances. Good luck!

Hi there - sounds like you'll have a strong application, assuming you get good GRE scores and have a strong personal statement. If there's one thing I've learned through this process, it's that admissions are unpredictable and appear to be arbitrary at times. I suggest applying to schools in a variety of different tiers (a few Top 10, some 10-30, maybe a few 30-50) and see what happens. As for specific schools, research fit is going to be the primary determining factor there. Think about what you want to study, then spend a lot of time figuring out which of the programs have faculty with similar research areas by reading faculty bios/CVs on university websites. Your faculty contacts can help identify good matches as well - I got a lot of good advice from my friends who are already in academia.

PROFILE: Type of Undergrad Institution: R1 with an unremarkable political science department Major(s)/Minor(s): Political science, Communications Undergrad GPA: 3.66 Type of Grad: Applied Politics Grad GPA: 3.8 GRE: 170V, 161 Q Any Special Courses: None Letters of Recommendation: 3 professors from my grad school (I graduated over a decade ago, but currently teach there, so I have strong relationships with all of my recommenders) Research Experience: None Teaching Experience: Adjunct faculty at an R1 school for the past four years Subfield/Research Interests: American/Behavior/Political Psychology Other: I have 20 years of professional experience working in politics (on Capitol Hill and as a political consultant), and my work in the field directly relates to my research interests. RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Maryland ($$), American University ($$) Waitlists: GW, Georgetown Rejections: None Pending: None Going to: Maryland LESSONS LEARNED: Meeting faculty with similar research interests at each school helped me understand fit and write strong personal statements tailored to each program. It also gave me a good feel for the schools that would likely accept me. Demonstrating fit in the personal statement is crucial.

Nothing like that - just a short letter that said they weren't able to accept me and that I was on the wait list. Good luck! Hope you get better news! I applied in the American subfield, BTW.

Just got a wait list notification from Georgetown.

You're right! I've been searching political science this whole time, and since some 2018 acceptances came up, I didn't think to switch the search terms. Thanks!

Has anybody gotten accepted into Georgetown yet? I keep checking the results board, but I haven't seen anything from 2019 yet.

I received an acceptance via the portal in the early morning and an automated email a few hours later.

American

Does anyone have any idea what's going on with Georgetown?